Mogsy’s Bookshelf Roundup: Stacking the Shelves & Recent Reads
Bookshelf Roundup is a feature I do every other weekend which fills the role of several blog memes, like Stacking the Shelves where I talk about the new books I’ve added to my library or received for review, as well as It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? where I round up what I’ve read since the last update and what I’m planning to read soon. Mostly it also serves as a recap post, so sometimes I’ll throw in stuff like reading challenge progress reports, book lists, and other random bookish thoughts or announcements.
Received for Review
My thanks to the publishers and authors for the following review copies received, and be sure to click the links to their Goodreads pages for more details and full descriptions!
With thanks to Orbit Books for sending along this beautiful finished copy of The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie. I’m really looking forward to this; I’ve read and enjoyed her Imperial Radch trilogy as well as Provenance but none of them exactly blew me away, so I’m curious to see if I’ll find that spark with her fantasy that I didn’t with her sci-fi.
And thank you to the kind folks at Titan Books for sending along this treasure trove of books in the last month: The Killing Joke by Christa Faust and Gary Phillips and The Court of Owls by Greg Cox are original novels adapted from their respective graphic novels, a thing they seem to be doing these days with DC’s most popular titles. The publisher was kind enough to send along hardcover copies of both, which I’m so grateful for because look how amazing they are! Can’t wait to dig in. Next up, I also received Embers of War by Gareth L. Powell, whose sequel is about to come out very soon. The BiblioSanctum is taking part in the book tour celebrating its release so be sure check back early next week for a guest post by the author, and you can be sure I’ll be tackling this first book posthaste in order to catch up. Finally, I also received a copy of The Smoke by Simon Ings, whose story I’ve been told is kind of on the weird and insane side which admittedly is making me kind of nervous, but I’m up for giving it a try.
Also thank you to 47North and the Wunderkind team for sending me a finished copy of Smoke & Summons by Charlie N. Holmberg. I actually reviewed this book earlier in the week, be sure to check it out in the review links below.
Much thanks to Little, Brown and Company/Jimmy Patterson Publishing for sending me an ARC of Swipe Right for Murder by Derek Milman, and also a special shout out to the author for making it happen. I really enjoyed his debut Scream All Night last year, and he was kind enough to reach out to made sure I got a review copy of his upcoming YA thriller.
Thanks also to Ace/Roc/DAW for the following new arrivals: Terminal Uprising by Jim C. Hines is book two of the hilarious looking Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse series which I haven’t had the pleasure to start yet, but these sci-fi humor books are definitely on the list; Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor is an omnibus collecting all three novellas of the series, and not only is this hardcover edition incredibly gorgeous, it’s also nice to have the books in one handy place plus a brand new Binti story; and Atlas Alone by Emma Newman is fourth in the sequence of standalone novels taking place in the author’s Planetfall universe. I’ve loved pretty much every book in the series so far and I’m quite eager to see what’s next, hence my thrill when I received this surprise ARC in the mail.
Plus a big thank you to Tor.com for sending along another unexpected arrival, this lovely copy of Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You by Scotto Moore. I find myself intrigued by this little novella, described as “a story of music, obsession, violence, and madness.” It looks like a super quick read too, so I’m going to do my best to read this one before the end of the month.
Last but not least, thank you to SourceBooks Fire for this surprise ARC of A Place For Wolves by Kosoko Jackson. A YA historical fiction, it’s a little outside my wheelhouse, but I’m also drawn to the themes of action, thrills, and an LGBT romance unfolding amidst the violence, pain and cruelty of war. I have some other SFF to prioritize first, but if I have time I’d love to give this one a look.
In the digital haul, courtesy of Simon and Schuster publicity I was sent a widget for a review copy of The Homecoming by Andrew Pyper. I’ve enjoyed his books in the past, and his new psychological thriller sounds amazing! With thanks to Tor Teen via NetGalley, I also decided pulled the trigger on Dark of the West by Joanna Hathaway. As you might recall from my Top Ten Tuesday post last week, I couldn’t make up my mind on this book, but thanks to several commenters chiming in to sing its praises, I realized I would be sorry if I didn’t at least give it a try. From Thomas & Mercer, I also wasted no time in downloading the galley of Wolfhunter River by Rachel Caine the moment I saw it pop up. This is the third book of her mystery-thriller series Stillhouse Lake, and I just can’t get enough. I also immediately grabbed Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia because it sounds totally awesome (a dark fairy tale inspired by Mexican folklore) and also I will read anything this amazing lady writes. With thanks to Del Rey.
Wrapping up, I received a couple more listening copies in the audiobooks folder this week: Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard is the long anticipated third book in the Witchlands saga, and it feels like I’ve been waiting forever for this book, so I’m glad it’s finally here. And lastly, Superman: Dawnbreaker by Matt de la Peña is the fourth release in the DC Icons series of books, featuring an adventure starring the teenage Clark Kent and his best friend Lana Lang. Thank you to Listening Library for both of these!
Reviews
Here is a quick summary of my reviews posted since the last update. Will you look at that, my top two reads were both mystery-thrillers:
Murder Theory by Andrew Mayne (4.5 of 5 stars)
The Watcher in the Woods by Kelley Armstrong (4.5 of 5 stars)
The Hiding Place by C.J. Tudor (4 of 5 stars)
Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik (4 of 5 stars)
The Beast’s Heart by Leife Shallcross (4 of 5 stars)
The Triumphant by Lesley Livingston (4 of 5 stars)
The Night Agent by Matthew Quirk (3.5 of 5 stars)
Smoke & Summons by Charlie N. Holmberg (3 of 5 stars)
Roundup Highlights:
What I’ve Read Since the Last Update
Here’s what I’ve managed to “unstack” from the TBR since the last update. More reviews coming soon!
Have you heard of or read any of the books featured this week? What caught your eye? Any new discoveries? I hope you found something interesting for a future read! Let me know what you plan on checking out. Until next time, see you next Roundup!
The BiblioSanctum 
I am so curious about Leckie’s fantasy book!
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I’m reading it right now and so far…it’s not going very well, lol.
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Ings’ The Smoke sounds good because the best book I read last year was weird and insane.
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In that case, The Smoke does sound promising for you! 🙂
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I can’t read your Smoke and Summons review until I read the ARC that I got. Am so intrigued by The Raven Tower – slightly jealous of that ARC 🙂
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I hope you enjoy Smoke & Summons! And I’m currently reading The Raven Tower and wishing I liked it more so far…but there’s still time for things to turn around, I guess 🙂
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OOoh very nice! Lots of new to me reads here! Though I’ve never been much of a Superman fan, I am curious about the new teen Superman book! I’ve read two of the others in the series and still need to read Catwoman! Will definitely be looking forward to your review on that one!
Happy Reading!
My STS will be up tomorrow, so stop by then if you can!
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
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I really need to start reading those DC Icons books!
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I’m reading Court of Owls right now. I like that it’s Batman and allies, Nightwing/ Batgirl. I’m less than 20% but good stuff so far.
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I’m currently reading it now too and I’m enjoying it! I’m not very familiar with the Court of Owls comics so I love that so much of this story is new to me.
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I vaguely remember it from the old animated show, maybe… but I think Cox does a good job of holding off on the info dump. I really liked it.
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I was really happy to get approved for Gods of Jade and Shadow too! I’m not on auto approval with Del Rey so it was a tense few days🤣
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I’m glad you were approved! Del Rey is usually good with saying yes to their bloggers, but then they can be slooooow with the pending requests!
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Embers of War was a delightful discovery and I’m looking forward to seeing how the story moves forward. As for the new book by Moreno-Garcia… well, part of the enjoyment comes from the surprise, since she changes theme and genre with every book she writes 🙂
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I can’t wait to read Embers of War! I remember your review, and it was what made me want to read it!
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I’m reading THE SMOKE right now, I’ll be interested to compare thoughts when you have time to get to it!
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I hope I’ll get a chance to read it! I’m a little scared though, I’ve heard it’s WEIRD, lol 😀
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Ooh, I didn’t know Andrew Pyper had a new book coming out – I’ll keep my eye out for that one.
Lynn 😀
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Yeah, I’m always curious about his work, so I’m glad I was able to snag a copy!
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I just read The Raven Tower! I really liked it, but I loved the Ancillary books and Provenance a lot as well.
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I’m glad you enjoyed The Raven Tower! I’m reading it right now and admittedly I’m struggling with it…but I hope things turn around!
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You get actual books? As in pages you can read and turn and the smell of those new books?
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I get a mix of both physical and digital review copies, there’s upsides to both 😀
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Thats pretty cool. Being able to say, “I hold in my hand a nearly published book, which I get to read first ahead of people.” I love being able to say that with e-arcs, but physical copies? that must feel extra special.
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Ooh Planetfall is almost here. And Swipe Right For Murder- yikes! That sounds fun. 🙂
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Yes, I can’t wait to read the next Planetfall book! And Swipe Right does sound pretty awesome, I’m looking forward to check it out 🙂
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I love that Rachel Caine cover!
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It’s very atmospheric!
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So many interesting titles in this batch, I’m very excited about Leckie’s new book, Embers of Wars and After Atlas. I’m also curious about The Smoke 🙂
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Knowing your predilection for stranger books, I have a feeling that The Smoke will be right up your alley 🙂 And I’m pretty excited to dive into Embers of War. The Raven Tower I’m reading now, and admittedly I’m struggling with it, but I hope it gets better!
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Yes, I think so too! 😉
Ah that’s too bad, I hope it gets better for you! In any case, I’ll look forward to your review of it.
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Looks like a lot of great stuff on the horizon! I’m listening to Bloodwitch now and it’s good to be back in this world.
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Nice, I’m glad to hear it! I hope I can get to listening to it soon, but still quite a few books to knock off the TBR first lol!
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I still read to read the Janitors of the Apocalypse series! I’ll be curious to hear what you think of them, if you read them. I’m also hoping to get Fleet of Knives read here soon, plus The Smoke!
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The Janitors of the Apocalypse series looks so fun! And knowing Hines, I have a feeling the humor will be off the charts 🙂
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I actually haven’t read any of Hines, but I’ve been meaning to read him for ages. So I’m definitely excited to check out this series…at some point. 😛
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